La rilevanza penale dell’abbandono di animali domestici davanti a un canile: riflessioni sulla natura del bene giuridico tutelato

The article analyses a ruling by the Supreme Court of Cassation, which upholds the conviction of an individual who abandoned six puppies in front of the gates of an animal shelter. In particular, the Court considers it a criminally relevant act under Article 727 of the Italian criminal code. The motivation behind the ruling is based on the fact that criminally relevant abandonment consists in the voluntary detachment from a domestic animal, which is capable of affection and in need of care, and suddenly finds itself in conditions that jeopardize its survival, regardless of the location where this occurs. For this reason, the abandonment of puppies in front of an animal shelter can be considered a criminally relevant act if there is no certainty regarding their acceptance by the facility. The author uses the ruling to criticize the thesis, incidentally mentioned in the pronouncement, according to which Italian criminal law protects the (human) sentiment towards animals. In particular, it is argued that the discussed ruling belongs to a different perspective in which the protected entity is the animal itself. To support this thesis, the author claims that the real reasoning of the ruling lies on the notion of criminally relevant “abandonment”, which is also present in the offense of abandoning minors or incapacitated individuals (Article 591 of the Italian criminal code): in that context, given the nature of the protected interest and in adherence to the principle of offensiveness, the notion of “abandonment” inevitably requires the existence of potential danger to the well-being of the passive subject. By drawing a parallel between these two offenses (Article 727 and Article 591), the author argues that it is not possible to justify the practical implications of the discussed ruling unless the focus of criminal protection is shifted to the animal itself.